Days Out

Lying just off the A591 between Ambleside and Grasmere, Loughrigg Fell is one of the Wainwrights I had been looking forward to climbing with Rowan for a long time. It’s a busy little fell though, so we waited till mid-week in a school holiday to make a day trip for a mountain adventure.

Running up to getting married in Coniston earlier this year, we were up in the Lakes for meetings with the hotel on several occasions. After one, much shorter than expected, visit to the venue, we found ourselves with some free time but no walking gear to venture onto the fells with. We decided to make our way to Grasmere to visit Allan Bank, former home to William Wordsworth and Canon Rawnsley (one of the founders of the National Trust)

Around nine months after first walking the Kentmere Round, I found myself back in the South Lakes ready to walk those hills again. This time, I was with Sarah and her gorgeous rescue staffie, Chester, a.k.a. Chester the Adventure Dog. On my first wander over the Kentmere Round, Kathryn and I added in High Street (the route of which you can read in more detail here). Today, we would follow more or less the same paths, except instead of High Street, we would add on Gray Crag instead.

After our day out on Cat Bells, we were keen to get back to the Lakes for another walking adventure. This time, Daddy and the dawgs were coming with us which left us with a dilemma – where to take our reactive Rocky on a bank holiday weekend. Ideally we needed a fell that was not too high for little legs, and not too far to travel for a day trip. At 357 metres and just off the A591, High Rigg fit the bill perfectly.

“A family fell where grandmothers and infants can climb the heights together, a place beloved.” This is how Alfred Wainwright described Cat Bells, near Keswick and we couldn’t wait to get exploring this little fell.

After our quick visit to Beeston Castle earlier in the year, we joined English Heritage knowing that we would be returning to explore the grounds a bit more carefully. The opportunity arose during the Easter holidays when we attended one of the many events held at the site – we went hunting for dragon eggs!

Earlier this year, we took advantage of some dry sunny weather and went for a day out in Beeston. The plan was to walk from Beeston Castle, around Peckforton Castle to get back to Beeston in time to explore the grounds. A walk around these two towers was something I’d had in mind for a while so I already had a shiny new OS map of the area (any excuse). There is parking outside Beeston Castle (postcode CW6 9TX ) and after going into the castle to pay the fee, and getting a quick bite to eat at the Sandstone Café we found the start of our route.